The new last bolt on Sauron was placed long after the route had first been bolted. It was noticed that the original last bolt was in a very dangerous position and if fallen on, there was the potential for a hazardous fall. This happened to many climbers before this new bolt was placed. On one weekend alone, a climber broke his ankle and another had a VERY nasty fall on this last move. The bolter who bolted this climb might not have seen that if one falls on this last move they would hit a prominent ledge.

The new bolt was placed so that it could be clipped before the hard finishing move, thus protecting the HUGE eminent fall. Obviously, the person who bolted the original route was climbing many grades above Sauron's, and the last move must have proved easy to climb. While this additional bolt might have changed the character of the route [from an ankle breaker to a safe, fun climb], the original bolter obviously found reason to remove the new bolt and keep the hanger for himself. It's a pity he didnt have to carry the broken climbers down the hill himself.

It should be noted that Sauron is a badly bolted climb from the start. There are a few bolts placed into flakes, rather than solid rock, and some of the bolts are suspect. This additional bolt was added to safeguard those climbers who are pushing it to climb an 18, and thus protect them from a harmful fall. Had the climb been properly bolted from the get go, this would not have been necessary. If climbers wanted to skip this last new bolt, they could have, however, it was decided by them to remove this hanger and thus continue with the injuries. It must also be noted that there was a maillon on the original last u-bolt because so many climbers used to bow out for fear of getting hurt on the final crux moves.

The question is this: should an 18 at a sport crag be allowed to be so badly bolted, so that people keep injuring themselves, so that certain falls will rip flakes off the hillside? Certainly, some projects in remote seldom climbed areas are sparsely bolted nightmares, however, the Chosspile is a high volume sport crag. An 18 at a sport crag should be safe and fun to climb.

Until the bolt is replaced on Sauron, I would advise all climbers who are new to the area to avoid climbing this route.

Lastly, it should be noted as well that in all of the route guides the bolter of this route has not been printed, thus, to contact the original bolter to ask for permission to place this bolt was impossible.

This is what is posted on the web:

This route has the first bolt quite high, take care as the second bolt is placed on a hollow section of rock.
First Ascent: Unknown

So, the first bolt is really high up, the second [and third btw] bolts are in hollow flakes. Thus, until you clip higher up, you have the potential to take a major groundfall. Be careful of this route.

Lastly, would the person who removed this hanger please PM me so that I can arrange to have it returned to its owner. It wasnt yours to take, and I'm sure it can be put to better use.

I have climbed that route and decided to lower down before the last move, Stone is 100% correct, if you fall on that move you would hit the ledge.

Bolts are there to stop you hitting the deck, in this case THERE IS A BOLT MISSING, that bolt should be there, it is not a case of just being run out - it is dangerous, if you would like to remove the hanger than leave a bouldering pad up there ?

I think that if a route is dangerously bolted it should / could be rebolted without permission otherwise you have a situation where a bad decision becomes the rule / safety factor which doesnt make sense.

fully agree with your guys' views - whoever removed that hanger should sneak back up there and replace it asap. if you bolted a route it does not mean you own it; it is clear that in this case it was the right thing to add the extra bolt. eish

by the way, with bronkies access fees going up to R20 chosspile might see some more traffic. (not that i think the bronkies fees are unreasonable.)

Hi, I climbed the route about 3 weeks ago and hanger is still missing. Next time I will try and take a hanger and some loctite (or a welder), anyway, I took a sling and tied a tight loop into it to hang on the bolt end. I then used this to "aid" / pull up to the chains and hook up top anchors so that we could climb safely.

If any bolters are going to be out in that neck of the woods some time, please let me know so I can post you a new M17 nut and a hanger for this bolt. I'm not in the area anymore, but I'd like to know that this route is not an ankle breaker.

It REALLY needs to be there. I've seen guys get very hurt falling on the crux move of Sauron, which is why it was placed there. We didnt put the bolt there for our enjoyment.

PM me please. Thanks

Last edited by st0ne on Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

On a more serious note, I heard that this route was bolted by Rory. Anybody know if this is true? Gary would know if anyone can get hold of him?

Nosmo thanks, It does make me angry that someone would remove hardware off a route. I guess you didnt have to carry the poor guy who broke his ankle down the hill.

It's a point that Rory might have been the one who bolted this route. I know he was quite active at Chosspile some years back. I'm sure if he did bolt this route, he'd not have minded this additional bolt being added if he'd known that people were being injured falling on the route. He was after all a very strong climber.

Good point, I'll be pissed too if I had to cancel climbing to carry a casualty down. I'll keep a hanger on my harness and replace it next time I get past that side, if someone else doesn't do it before me.

Shit dude, that really didn't turn out like I expected. I'm sorry for flaming you like that. I think we had differing views on the Bombay Duck anchors and I brought my point across like a complete dick. I understand if you don't accept my apology, but anyway, peace.